Fostering creative thinking in music through improvisation? A replication study on interventions in classroom music

As a praxial component of music education, musical improvisation is supposed to foster creativity as a core competence in music, yet empirical evidence is rather scarce. Findings provided by Koutsoupidou and Hargreaves (2009) show that pupils schooled in an intervention score higher in creative thinking (MCTM-II; Webster, 1994) than the control group. In replicating this study, we sought to further examine the organisation and effects of such a programme. Based on recent didactical approaches, our intervention was designed as a six-week course, introducing musical parameters by music making and listening. In our conceptual replication, the experimental group not only scored higher than the control group but also increased its achievements significantly. Thus, our results confirmed the findings of the reference study that engaging in musical improvisation had a positive impact on creative thinking in music. (DIPF/Orig.